Jos Hermens

The Athlete's Agent

Today's top athletes require the tough negotiating skills of agents. To many around the world, including Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, Gabriela Szabo, and Nils Schumann, there is none more trustworthy than Dutchman Jos Hermens. Today, more than 120 athletes employ Hermens’s company, Global Sports Communications, to plot their careers.

Hermens does much more than negotiate financial deals for these athletes. "Jos had done everything for me, not only in running," says Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic 10,000m champion. "He is doing everything. For example my brother was in [the] hospital in Holland. Jos is looking after him."

"I never see him as [a] manager," says Gebrselassie. "Always he looks like a brother or a father and son."

That kind of relationship breeds trust. "I have never asked about competition," Gebrselassie reports. "I say, ‘Jos, if you believe the competition is good for me I come.’ Always he listens to what I say. We trust each other. The other part is we love each other. Even when I will not be competing, we will be like family."

While some managers specialize in sports law or business management, Hermens is a fan first, exuding a genuine love for the sport and for his athletes. During championship competition, with so much riding on the line, Hermens can be found sitting in the stands like an expectant father about to witness the birth of a child. With his nerves frayed and the tension mounting, the media, with whom he has a very good relationship, knows to give him space.

First-Hand Knowledge

As a former world-class athlete—he was a 1976 Olympic 10,000m finalist and set a world record for the one-hour run the same year—Hermens understands the highs and lows of competition. It was his frustration as an athlete that led him into the career he has chosen.

"When I was 28 I got injured, and I couldn’t run. I had five operations on my Achilles tendons," Hermens remembers. "I was a teacher originally, and I wanted to stay in the sport. I wanted to coach. But of course it was impossible to become [a] full-time coach at the time. Then I started to work for Nike in Holland around 1979 and then later for Nike Europe [from] 1982 until 1985 and then Nike moved to Switzerland.

"Many athletes asked me to help: ‘Can you find a contract? Find a training place?’ I worked with a very nice group—Olympic gold medalists from sprinters to Seb Coe. In 1985 [I] started my company and had to work 80 hours a week. Then I hired someone else. Now we have grown to more than 15 people on the staff. We have two people in Mexico, two in Kenya, and another in Ethiopia working for us."